1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage containers and more particularly pertains to a new security storage container for containing articles in a safe manner in a coat room or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of storage containers is known in the prior art. More specifically, storage containers heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,941,196; 5,476,323; 2,181,252; 3,933,304; 5,338,118; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 280,043.
Where articles such as hand bags and other personal belongings are left in the care of, for example, cloakroom staff, there is always a problem of pilferage. This is particularly the case where articles are deposited for safe-keeping in cloakrooms of public places such as hotels, restaurants, concert halls, museums, art galleries and such other places of entertainment. Where, for example, a handbag, shopping bag or the like article is left with cloakroom staff, there is always the possibility that pilferage will occur, or what in many cases can be even more important, accusations of pilferage can arise which may be totally unjust and incorrectly based. Such accusations inevitably lead to claims for compensation against the owners of the establishment and of their very nature cause conflict between the owners and their staff operating such cloakrooms. There is thus a need to protect not just simply any depositor from pilferage, but also to protect staff from accusations of such pilferage. It is always easier for people to claim that they had something stolen and indeed they may often genuinely believe so than to actually admit to others or, indeed, more importantly to themselves that they might possibly have mislaid the item.
Even if pilferage does not occur, most people do not particularly want their belongings examined for the extraction of valuable information such addresses, car registration numbers and the like personal information. Nor indeed do many people want their more intimate possessions such as letters, diaries, etc. read by third parties. This, at its mildest is perceived to be an invasion of privacy and at its worst could indeed lead to subsequent loss of property due to theft, burglaries, etc. since knowing that somebody is attending a concert is a very good way of ascertaining a potential address for burglary.
It must also again be emphasised that there is a major problem for the venue owner and cloakroom operator who is trying to provide a service for his or her customers, by taking their possessions into safe-keeping while at the same time avoiding major litigation. Even if litigation does not occur, it is of no benefit whatsoever to a cloakroom operator to have accusations of theft leveled against the establishment since such an allegation automatically insures that there is now almost certainly as well as a dissatisfied customer an equally dissatisfied and disgruntled member or members of staff. No matter how an employer will assure a staff member that he or she is not under any cloud of suspicion, the mere fact of such an allegation being raised must of necessity cause distress and upset. The customer, even when he or she is confident that their possessions have not been tampered with, there is still always the nagging doubt that somebody has indeed rifled through one's possessions.
One particular area where these type of accusations, counter-accusations and general disquiet occurs is in many a workplace where there is an unsupervised cloakroom and employees leave possessions in the cloakroom, which possessions are not stolen, but may indeed be examined or otherwise rifled through by other members of staff. These, in some ways, are the most difficult situations to handle, since there has been no loss of property, but at the same time there is dissension among staff members.
In these respects, the security storage container according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of containing articles in a safe manner in a coat room or the like.